Spiral Fireworks
by dialNforNinja
Summary: Hinata faces a surprising request from the Clan Elders and must make a decision.


Spiral Fireworks

a short work of Naruto Fanfiction

by dialNforNinja, aka ClassicDrogn

Naruto setting and characters created by Masahi Kishimoto and published by Shonen Jump

The Place: Chambers of the Elder Council, Hyuuga Compound, Konoha.

The Time: Two or three months before Naruto was due to return from the trip with Jiraya.

Hinata looked at the Elders who had summoned her and her sister to give the news of their father's mortal wounds. They were stoic, impassive with the trained demeanor of the noble Hyuuga Clan, and she would never have expected the question they had just asked of her. "To become head of the Main House as firstborn, or would she abdicate the responsibility to her sister and accept exile to the Branch," she repeated in her mind. As if there'd ever been any real question in her mind, with the way her father had favored the younger girl, even if he had warmed to herself after that first Chuunin Exam and the invasion. A million other thoughts raced through her head, and her gaze drifted to Hanabi, struggling to hold onto that same stoic face even as her eyes gave away shock and a burgeoning feeling of betrayal.

The older girl's face hardened, into the resolved determination so few had ever seen on it. Most of those had only had the opportunity, quite briefly. "I understand now," she said, and Hanabi's already pale skin went white as a sheet. She swallowed reflexively, as her lips tightened and white eyes now filled with horror pled fruitlessly with Hinata's.

She maintained that flinty resolve, and turned back to the Elder Council, now oozing an air of satisfaction even if they had not outwardly budged a muscle. "Yes, I will accept it. However, I ask that you honor the wish of my father, the previous Clan Head's heart, that he never need to look upon his daughters and see that hated mark on one brow, for so long as he drew breath."

Seeing the protests start to form on their lips, she continued, "It is against tradition, perhaps, but the matter has gone this long already, and from what you say that time will come soon. I would have it recorded so in the Clan's histories."

Mollified, the Elders nodded their assent, and Hinata laid one hand on the now trembling shoulder of her sister, just in time to prevent her from swaying as the fate unexpectedly looming before her sank in. "Would you excuse us?" she asked. "I think there are things the two of us need to discuss alone."

Steering the younger girl to her feet and out of the chamber, she only managed to get a short way down the hall before Hanabi sputtered out, "So that's it? All your soft words and cringing, vanished when you get the chance to throw me into the Branch House instead?"

"No, my dearest sister," Hinata replied softly. "I am doing this to spare you the burden of being the Head of the Hyuuga Clan. I promise you, like our father you will never bear that cursed mark as long as I draw breath. Even if I have to challenge the Elders to battle, I swear it."

Hanabi gave a bitter, choked laugh that was at least half sob. "Foolish big sis... You may have gotten stronger at last, but if you challenge the Elders, you'll be dead before Father. What do you think you can do about it? The traditions of the Hyuuga Clan are centuries old."

"I'll find a way," Hinata insisted. "I won't let anyone precious to me suffer. Why do you think I never struck with my full force in our spars? It was because I couldn't bear to see you hurt. Just trust me," she pleaded, as they reached the Head's Study at last, and she pulled the younger girl down onto her lap as she sat on a thick cushion. Her mind continued to race as she held her sister until the no-longer-containable tears passed.

Hinata had been surprised to find Tsunade-sama talking with a boot-sized toad when she arrived, but since only Naruto-ku... Uzumaki-sama and Jiraya-sama could summon them, and they had gone traveling together, it was a fortunate coincidence. "I apologise for the intrusion, Hokage-sama, Toad-san, but I have an urgent question. If you recalled him right now, how fast could N-... Uzumaki-sama arrive?"

Confused by the way the normally shy girl had blustered her way in past Shizune, as well as the way she'd suddenly adopted the formal robes worn by most Hyuuga instead of her usual outfit, the Hokage just turned to her batrachian visitor and quirked an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Eh, they're all the way out on the far side of Bird Country," the toad explained. "If it was really urgent, Fukusaku-sama could come here and then reverse summon the kid, but on foot it would be weeks at least." Unsaid was that Jiraya would be hard to pry away from the hot springs festival that was going on, he knew better than to antagonize the volatile blonde with stories of the man's womanizing ways.

"My father clings to life, but the medics say he has days at best," Hinata began, receiving a sympathetic but confirming nod from Tsunade, the Leaf's best medic-nin as well as overall commander, at the prognosis. "To myself and my sister, it is a matter of more than life that Naruto-kun returns at least briefly before that. Is it possible, Toad-san?"

Frowning, Tsunade interjected, "There are important reasons why Naruto left the village for this trip, and why does it matter if he comes back before Hiashi dies? You don't think your father would actually give his blessing to..." Not sure how to phrase what she wanted to ask, the Hokage trailed off.

Hinata faltered a moment, but firmed herself visibly before shaking her head and replying. "For me, Uzumaki-san was always an impossible dream," she began, obliquely. "So cheerful, so determined, such an inspiring person, but the Elders would never accept a daughter of the Main House associating with him, and now that I've become the Clan Head, that dream is even more out of the question."

Tsunade sucked in a surprised breath; she hadn't heard who the Hyuuga Elders had chosen for a successor yet, and sweet though she was the older daughter had never been a real contender in her mind either.

"But, my sister has recently been removed from the Main House," the dark-haired girl continued, face set again in the solid resolve that had - that must - become her new standard. "I have secured the Elder's agreement that she will not be given the Curse Seal for as long as my Father still lives, but..." Her still-new facade crumbled slightly as she shrugged, helpless against the reality that it was already something of a miracle the man still clung to life. Most of the medic-nin, Tsunade among them, were half-convinced it was only bull-headed, stubborn pride that let him last this long. "As head of the Main House, it is also my duty to see that members of the Hyuuga Clan, m-marry well," Hinata stated, with only the slightest hesitation.

Tsunade could feel her jaw drop, even as the newly appointed Clan Head continued, "As the heir of a former Hokage, Uzumaki-sama's wife would be exempt from the rules of another Clan, even if she should happen to be a Hyuuga who had somehow escaped being cursed with the Caged Bird Seal as a member of the Branch House..." The girl trailed off one more time, and looked down at the floor as some of her old insecurity stung her. "...if Uzumaki-sama agrees, of course. I think... I hope he would, to save my sister, and I think they would be a good match. Before she became so serious after Father began her training Hanabi was much like her name, a bright explosion of happiness who could light up the sky. I feel that Naru... that Uzumaki-sama could bring back that Hanabi, the Fireworks of the Hyuuga Clan. That's the kind of person he deserves, anyway."

"Wait a minute, what do you mean, the child of a former Hokage? What makes you say that?" Tsunade demanded. That information was a secret, damn it! How had the girl found out, even if she now had access to the Hyuuga Clan information how had they found out?

Hinata stared first at her leader, then at the pictures of the former Hokages hanging on the wall of the office. "Have you LOOKED at Naruto-kun?" she asked, incredulously. "Blondes aren't that common in Fire Country to begin with, and since your branch of the Senju and the Yamanaka Clan families are well known, the Fourth is the only other possibility around the right age. And he was known to have assosciated with the only Uzumaki in the records before Naruto also, a former Whirlpool kunoichi named Kushina. Older records, from before the time of the Kyuubi's attack, also contain some information on the Bijuu." she added, parenthetically. "Kushina's branch of the Senju were said to have a special variation in their chakra that made containing those monsters less difficult, also." she added, with a significant nod.

"That kind of information is classified at the highest levels," Tsunade warned. "Just admitting that you know it puts a noose around your neck if I wanted to draw it tight."

Rather than reply directly, Hinata just smiled, a small twitch of the lips that said all that was necessary about her understanding of the weapon she'd handed to Tsunade, if it was necessary to use it. She knew it never would be. "I believe in Uzumaki Naruto," she said instead.

Tsunade held her tense posture for another breath before slumping back onto the chair behind her desk and rubbing her temples. "I have to admit," she agreed with a sigh, "Believing in Naruto always seems to pay off in the end. No matter what happens, the knucklehead always comes through somehow. All right, tell the kid to try to make it back here," she ordered the toad. "I'll at least let Hyuuga-sama make her offer. Even if he doesn't accept, maybe he can pull another miracle out of his bag of tricks and convince the Elders not to inflict that abomination of a Curse Seal on another generation when we've finally cleaned up the rubble from the Hiashi and Hizashi situation, between her and Neji."

The smile was brighter now, though still touch with a hint of personal regret. "Thank you, Hokage-sama," the Hyuuga Clan Head said formally. "Your compassion is as great as your wisdom."

Thinking about some of the decisions she'd made in her life, Tsunade managed to contain a snort at the intended compliment, but only barely. "I'll just have to believe in Naruto too, one more time," she thought to herself.

EOF


End file.
